The Pause Button – Gaming Unwound

It seems the steaming turd that was, is, and shall remain to be Ninja Gaiden 3 was not enough to convince Tecmo Koei they couldn't make a decent Ninja Gaiden game without Tomonobu Itagaki. Instead, Yaiba Ninja GaidenBall Z is on the table. Starring Yaiba, some random ninja that was killed by Ryu Hayabusa. So it's basically a side-story to Ninja Gaiden. A side story to Ninja Side-Story. With a Z? Can it get any worse? Sadly, yes. Just add zombies.

If there's something I like, it's some good inexpensive action/adventure games. I figured the Devil May Cry HD Collection would be a good bet. Three games for the price of one? From a bunch of guys who later worked on Bayonetta? How could things go wrong?

If there's one word that comes to mind when talking about Bayonetta, it should be "wow". While not breaking any new ground gameplay-wise, Bayonetta is a game unlike any other I've played. It is completely over-the-top. There is nothing reasonable about it. No restraint was involved in the making of this game. It's as if Platinum Games made all of its employees try to out-crazy each other with suggestions, and then implement only the wackiest of the wacky. If Kitano Takeshi had ever made a video game, it would probably have been Bayonetta.

Crazy sexy, or just plain crazy?

The incredible thing is, it actually works. And given that it's going to be available on the PSN starting this week, what better time than now to offer you a review?

The Amazon pre-order pages are up - and with them comes some tantalising new information. We already knew the Director's Cut would feature DLC, a graphical overhaul and a new Swery-designed scenario but this is just the tip of the iceberg.

3D Dot Game Heroes. What a stupid name. Seriously, I have yet to find any redeeming qualities to this title. It's too long, it doesn't say itself very well, it's just begging for an abbreviation of some sort. It doesn't even work as an acronym. 3DDGH. I'll call it Heroes for brevity's sake, but it's a hardly satisfying compromise.